Style Imitating Art…
Welcome back for my interpretation of a wonderful piece of art by a new to me artist. Salazar, Shelbee, and I are the curators. You can think of this series as fashion meets art museum! SIA challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. I am this week’s curator with a very colorful Expressionist painting. I hope you enjoy this post, the information, and my interpretation.
How it works…
Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. We then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, we share our outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. I chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why I chose it here. Please send your photo to me by Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 by 10 pm EST. Style Imitating Art is an interesting way to inspire your outfits. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.
The artist…
August Macke was born in Meschede, Wesphalia, Germany on 3 January 1887. His father, August Friedrich Hermann Macke, was a building contractor as well as an amateur artist. Macke’s mother, Maria Florentine came from a farming family in Westphalia’s Sauerland region. The family moved to Cologne shortly after his birth. He attended the Kreuzgymnasium (1897-1900). One of his earliest friends was Hans Thuar, also an artist. The Macke family moved to Bonn in 1900. There, he studied at the Realgymnasium and became friends with Walter Gerhardt and his sister, Elisabeth. He and Elisabeth married in 1909. She would be the model for over 200 of his paintings which helped Macke sharpen his skills. His first watercolors date back to 1902, probably influenced by his father’s landscape paintings and ancient art collections. Other early artistic influences included Macke’s father’s drawings, the Japanese prints Thuar’s father collected, and the works of Arnold Böcklin. He saw these on a visit to Basel in 1900. In 1904, Macke became a student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Adolf Maennchen. He also took evening classes with Fritz Helmut Ehmke. Macke worked as a stage and costume designer at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf School of Applied Arts). He visited northern Italy (1905) and the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain (1906).
A little more…
Nineteen year old Macke soon became disenchanted with the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Royal Academy of Art in Düsseldorf). He rebelled against copying “existing works of old masters rather than exploring contemporary artistic ideas.” It was then he became a stage and costume designer. In 1907, Macke traveled to Paris for the first time and discovered the Impressionists. The soft colors, “subtle dappling technique,” and domestic subjects greatly affected his work. In 1909, on another trip to Paris, Macke saw the works of Henri Matisse. It was Matisse’s intense use of color that convinced Macke to begin using “brighter colors, a flattened perspective, and broader brushstrokes.” From 1906 to 1919, Macke traveled to Paris, Germany, and Italy to meet up with other artists, exchange ideas, and absorb the “different artistic styles across Europe.” Only 22, Macke used these experiences to sharpen his genuine technical skills and develop his own personal painting style.
Der Blaue Reiter…
Around 1909-1910, Macke met the young Expressionist painter, Franz Marc in Munich. They began developing “a more abstract and colorful style. Details became less important for Macke and Marc. They “valued the emotional response provoked by the painting by using brighter and contrasting colors. They would later form an art group called Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).” The Blue Rider was a group of Expressionists who were based in Germany. Der Blaue Reiter contributed significantly to abstract art. The artists organized group shows from 1911 to 1914 in order to exhibit their works. They also put on a show, First Exhibition by the Editors of Der Blaue Reiter. It was held in Munich from December 1911 to January 1912. Fourteen artists displayed 43 works, including August Macke. Their paintings reflected diverse styles and showed the interest of artists in “free experimentation and expression.” That first exhibit received various reviews from critics and the public, but it attracted other artists who were interested in the group’s “expressive freedom.” In February 1912, a second Der Blaue Reiter exhibition was held and included 315 works by more than 30 artists.
Evolution of his style…
For the next few years, Macke continued to travel and meet other artists, all of whom had an impact on his artistic technique. But, Macke’s style always came through those impacts. Among the artists he would meet were Robert Delaunay, Paul Klee, and Louis Moilliet. That’s not to say his style didn’t evolve. “’A looseness in the colors, a wonderful luminosity, especially in the green tones of the trees, the translucent blue of the sky, the sunspots on the ground that darkened from the brightest yellow to the deepest reddish-brown, are characteristic of his last paintings. The figures stand softly in this atmosphere, yet not without contrast; there are no longer any strong contours, everything flows, the color is dematerialized, it is like enamel. An immense concentration is contained in the first paintings he created, mostly very small ones, which shine like jewels… they are true poems, visions of everyday, random life, created with unbroken joy and a deep fervor of devotion to the work,’ wrote Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke, his wife, about these paintings after Macke’s death.” Delaunay’s influence helped Macke to understand the role of light and color in painting. Again, his wife writes, “airiness of colors, wonderful luminosity, especially in the green tones of trees, transparency of heavenly blue, sunspots on the ground, where shades change from shining yellow to deep red-brown.” Macke’s people also were less defined as he didn’t outline them with a “clearly defined contour.” These later paintings expressed feelings and moods rather than “reproducing objective reality…”
World War I and death…
In 1914, World War I began, and Macke enlisted the first week of the war. He died on September 26, 1914. He was 27 years old when he died in Champagne, France. During his short career (about eight years), Macke produced over 600 paintings and 9000 drawings. In a letter dated August 1914, Macke wrote to his wife, “I would consider myself incredibly lucky if I was to return from this war. I think about all the beautiful things that I have witnessed and that I have you to thank for.” He is buried in the Soldiers Cemetery, Souain-Perthes-les-Hurlus, France. Find-A-Grave says his marker is a cenotaph which means it’s a marker rather than his actual grave, yet another source said this is his actual place of burial. Macke’s friend and colleague, Franz Marc, wrote,
“We painters know that without his harmonies, whole octaves of colour will disappear from German art, and the sounds of the colours remaining will become duller and sharper. He gave a brighter and purer sound to colour than any of us; he gave it the clarity and brightness of his whole being. With his death one of the most promising and daring lines of development of our German art has been abruptly severed; none of us are capable of carrying it forward.”
German Expressionism…
Macke is known as the father of German Expressionism. I think, from my research, Expressionism is, at its purist, the artist’s rendering of a painting guided more by feelings than by realistic portrayal. But, I’ve included this quote for y’all.
The Expressionist wishes, above all, to express himself. An Expressionist rejects immediate perception and builds on more complex psychic structures … impressions and mental images that pass through peoples’ soul as through a filter which rids them of all substantial accretions to produce their clear essence, are assimilated and condensed into more general forms, into types, which he transcribes through simple short-hand formulae and symbols. – Antoni Matejcak, 1910, cited in Donald E. Gordon, Expressionism: Art and Idea, Yale University Press, 1987.
August Macke prize…
In 1959, the first August Macke Prize was awarded by the districts Arnsberg, Brilon, Olpe, and Meschede, Macke’s birthplace. Recipients earn a monetary prize of 20,000 € as well as the offer to exhibit their work in a museum show in Arnsberg. Macke’s work sells for millions. In 1997, The Couple at a Garden Table (1914) sold for £2 million. Market in Tunis (1914) sold for £2.86 million ($4.1 million) in 2000. In 2007, the Berlin auction house, Villa Griesebach sold Woman with a Parrot in a Landscape for €2.4 million. This was a record for Macke. The provenance said it was confiscated in 1937 as degenerate art. This was a designation given by the Nazis to anything that didn’t match up to their ideals. Ironically, a 2008 catalog of Macke’s works lists Hildebrand Gurlitt in the provenance of the painting. Gurlitt was Hitler’s art dealer.
The artwork…
Painted in 1913, Promenade has been located at Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München since 1965 and was a donation from Elly and Bernhard Koehler. Unfortunately, it is not currently on display. The painting is oil on cardboard and measures 19.96 x 22.36 x 0.16 in (50.7 x 56.8 x 0.4 cm). “In “Promenade,” there are two identically dressed men and, in the foreground, a schematically drawn female figure in a red skirt and white blouse. At the center of the curving, colorful volumes, a young, elegantly dressed couple remains in intimate, yet silent, togetherness. A distanced relationship exists between the soft outlines of their figures; here, too, each figure remains absorbed in their own contemplation.”
“In the center of the composition is a young man, dressed in an elegant suit and with a summer hat, talking to a lady in a red dress and blue jacket, holding an umbrella. The couple seems fenced off from the environment, not noticing anything around. Their faces are only outlined, anonymized, and devoid of specific features. Another lady, wearing a hat with a white feather, is leaning against the railing of the bridge, and the same do other two men, to her left. The painting creates a feeling of blissful peace on a quiet, sunny day, where a person seems in harmony both with himself and with nature.”
Sources…
August Macke – Daily Art Magazine
My interpretation…
Just like always, I thought the piece had a lot of one color when it actually had more of another color. I really thought red was the predominant color. But, when I looked closely at it, Promenade has many more greens in it. So, I went shopping in my closet to find something with lots of green. Now, green isn’t overly represented in my closet, but then my eye fell on these Paris pants from Gudrun Sjödén. They had many different shades of green with some little touches of red though you have to look hard to find them. I added a red tank from Old Navy as well as a red scarf at my waist, also from Gudrun Sjödén. It’s surprising how close the reds are, right? Next up was a blue coat. Mine isn’t long (it’s a J Jill denim jacket) and doesn’t have a red collar. I had tried the scarf around the neck of the jacket, but I didn’t like the way it looked. All in all, I really like this look, and it’s one I’ll wear again. When I wore it before, I went with green on the top. I really like the red contrasting with the green here.
The Lewk!
I don’t know if these are called bubble gum necklaces or not, but that’s what I’m calling them. Anyway, I have been seeing them all over the place. Recently, Baublebar had a sale, and I bought the Jane Necklace in multi. I have no idea which size I bought. I’m trying to decide if I like it this length, or does it need to be a little bit longer or shorter. During the same sale, they had these Valerie Bezel Set bracelets for $10 each! I bought two in rose and one in amethyst. The other one is the Marjorie, but they don’t seem to have the multi colored one in stock. I wore my gold earrings which were a Christmas gift from Nigel many, many years ago and have appeared on the blog multiple times. I don’t often wear gold so I don’t have a lot of gold earrings. I almost forgot…I went with green on my feet, too! These are my old and trusty Born floral sandals. I don’t know what I’m going to do when these finally wear out. They are a go-to for me.
Wrap it up, Marsha!
August Macke died so young. How much did we lose with his death? Would his technique have continued to evolve? Unfortunately, I think we can say this about so many artists who die young. I think I have a better idea of what Expressionism is, but I do wonder why it’s usually preceded with German. Does that mean there weren’t any French or English Expressionists? Here is another wonderful post about Macke. I found it after I’d written my post, but I wanted to share it with y’all. So, can we talk? What do you think of Expressionism? Does the lack of clear lines bother you in the figures? How do you like the colors of this painting? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as I can.
Don’t forget…
If you want to be included in the Style Imitating Art round up, send me your photo by 10:00 pm EST, Tuesday, May 19th. Photos of everyone participating will appear on my blog on Wednesday, May 20th! If you’re interested in joining us, consider all of your options…the colors, the textures, the feelings they evoke! Come on, give it a try! I think you’ll love it!
Thank you!
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Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World . I also link up with I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month as well as the Global Writing Challenge on the second Thursday. I now co-host Fashion Files with Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa every Tuesday. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, Cat, and Rena. I also host 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
Well done Marsha, a great interpretation today.